


And Only Time Will Tell

by katayla



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 21:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katayla/pseuds/katayla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's only one person who can handle being Sherlock's partner when it comes to high school assignments.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Only Time Will Tell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [i_am_girlfriday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_girlfriday/gifts).



"You will be my partner, I presume?" Sherlock asked.

"Unless you've found someone else to put up with you," Joan said.

Mrs. Hudson had assigned them an art history project and given them the choice of partners. While everyone else had scrambled back and forth across the room, Sherlock had leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Their classmates gave their table a wide berth. A few people had tried to catch Joan's eye, but she just shook her head. She was, she supposed, forever taken.

"I did an assignment with Bell!"

"No, Marcus did the assignment and you put your name on it."

"The assignment wasn't worth my time," Sherlock said. "It's not my fault if Bell decided to waste his time on it."

"And get you an A?"

"Watson, as I have told you before, grades are hardly a reflection of intelligence."

"And, as I have told you before, stop calling me by my last name."

"Calling someone by their first name implies an intimacy I am not prepared to extend at this time in my life."

"And while grades might not reflect intelligence, you still need good ones for college."

Sherlock opened his mouth.

"And you still need to go to college to be a doctor!"

Sherlock sighed. "A dreadfully inefficient setup. You would become a better doctor much more quickly under an apprenticeship system."

"Yeah, well, I'll bring it up with the AMA," Joan said. "In the meantime, you _are_ going to help with this assignment."

"Doubtful."

*

"Aha!" Joan said, as she walked into Sherlock's room. "I have found a topic you cannot resist!"

"Watson, I simply do not have time to devote to the history of art. As you can see, my work load is intense." 

He gestured to the pile of books cluttering his desk. Joan took a quick look and, sure enough, none of them were textbooks or had any apparent relation to what they were studying in school.

"Oh no?" she said. "Take a look at these."

She dumped her armful of books onto the desk, scattering a few papers to the floor in the process. One stack of books tilted to the side and Sherlock reached out to steady it.

"Watson, I'm not--" His attention was caught by a title. " _The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Love and Detection_?"

He looked quickly up at her and then back to the stack of books. " _Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists_ , _The Rockwell Heist_ . . . Watson, I do believe you know the way to a man's heart."

He picked the first book back up. "A crime I have done very little research on. This is a real gift!"

"It's not a gift! It's an assignment!" 

She reached for another book, but Sherlock blocked her hands.

"Sherlock!"

"Get your own books!"

"Those are my own . . . oh, forget it."

*

Joan was woken at 2AM by the buzzing of her cell phone. She glanced at the display. _Sherlock._

"No, you're not going to suck me in." She let the phone rang.

As soon as it stopped, it started to ring again. She sighed and picked it up. "I'm only answering this because I know you're not going to stop."

"Do you think we'll get an A if we solve an art heist?"

"Maybe if you write a paper on it."

"Watson, the point is solving the crime, not writing about solving the crime."

"Think of it as training minds to work properly."

He was silent for a moment. "That is an interesting idea."

"So have you actually solved a crime or are we just making conversation?"

"Come over and I'll show you what I have."

"It's the middle of the night!"

"You're not sleeping!"

"Because _someone_ woke me up," Joan said.

He fell silent again.

"Sherlock?" Joan asked.

"Yes?"

"I'll come over before school. Try and get some sleep."

*

"And why are you going over to the boy-who-is-not-your-boyfriend's house at 6 in the morning?" Joan's mother asks.

"It's for school," Joan said.

Her brother laughed. "Yeah right!"

"It is!"

Oran just kept laughing.

"Mom!"

"Oran, stop laughing. It's good to see Joanie so dedicated to her schoolwork."

"Yeah, that's not what she's dedicated to."

"It's for school," she repeated softly. And because she thought Sherlock was lonely. If she had to show up at his house at 6AM in the morning to show him what friendship means, she would.

*

"Wow," Joan said. "What is all of this?"

Sherlock had covered one wall of his bedroom in pictures and newspaper clippings.

"These are our clues," he announced.

She ran her hands across the wall. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Hey, I read about this. The FBI solved it."

"No, the FBI _said_ they _think_ solved it. I, however, have solved it in fact."

He rocked back and forth on his feet. "Don't you want to know who did it?"

"Can I stop you from telling me?" Joan asked.

"Okay, it's like this . . . ."

*

"Are you going to help me write this?" Joan asked. They were in the library and she had a Word document open on her computer.

Sherlock didn't look up from his book. "Just think about how impressive it would be if we solved _two_ art heists!"

"Paper first, unsolved crimes second."

"I don't like your priorities."

Sherlock jumped up. "I'm going to ask Mr. Gregson if he can get me any more books on art heists."

Joan grabbed for him. "No. You're going to sit down and help me write this. Remember, you were going to share your brilliant deductions with the class?"

"They wouldn't be able to understand them."

"You shared them with me."

"Yes, I did." Sherlock looked at her for a long moment. "Joan, I do believe your mind may be wasted on medicine."

"Joan?"

He shrugged.

*

Joan turned in their paper with a huge sigh of relief. She wasn't sure it was exactly what Mrs. Hudson was looking for, but it was a good paper. She'd even managed to get Sherlock to write a few paragraphs.

"I hope you don't expect me to assist on all assignments now," Sherlock said, when she sat back down at their table.

"We'll see," Joan said. 

She had a few ideas for their next English paper.

**Author's Note:**

> All of the books mentioned are real titles. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist is also real, as is [the FBI's announcement that they think they know who committed the crime](http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/18/nation/la-na-nn-fbi-boston-museum-heist-20130318).


End file.
